You are here

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) met on Monday, September 23, 2002. The meeting of the Audit Committee ended at 1:04 p.m., so the Full Commission met immediately after, at 1:04 p.m. at the State Library and Archives Building in Austin, Texas.

Commissioner Sanders moved to approve the Audit Committee minutes; Commissioner Cox seconded. Motion passed. The commission made two corrections to the Full Commission minutes. Commissioner Carr moved to approve the minutes as corrected; Commissioner Sanders seconded. Motion passed.

Director and Librarian Peggy D. Rudd reviewed components of her written report, including the following:

The agency has a new TexShare Coordinator. She will be introduced to the Commission at its next meeting.

The Texas State Library is working with the Texas Education Agency on a project called Link to Learn, which is funded by the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board to support joint training for public and school librarians on TexShare databases appropriate for school age children and Texas Learning Connection databases.

A pilot TexShare expansion project will be run in Hidalgo County.

The Friends Board will meet on November 18. The Board has undertaken a membership drive to see how many people they can enroll by Valentine's Day.

Ms. Rudd secured a $500 donation to the Friends Board for her work as an expert witness in a court case involving the public libraries in Atascosa County.

The Talking Book Week is getting good media coverage.

Ms. Rudd mentioned the article which appeared in Library Journal on a day in the life of a state library agency (the Texas State Library and Archives Commission).

The Texas Building and Procurement Commission (TBPC) will pay for a building study. A staff assignment will be made over the next month. Ms. Rudd reviewed other points of her discussions with TBPC. TBPC anticipates having a full report ready by February 2003. Bill Bonham will be sending a copy of the feasibility study to Ms. Rudd. Chairman Pickett asked a question about the date on some communications between the agency and TBPC; Ms. Rudd responded that the date on the letter was correct. Chairman Pickett asked if TBPC would be covering the financing for the study; Ms. Rudd responded that, yes, the money is secure. Chairman Pickett asked if the money could affect the agency's exceptional item request; Ed Seidenberg responded that the exceptional item request would not be changed until more was known about the project.

A Request for Proposal was issued to procure the assistance of consultants to work with the Library Development division to conduct a study of public library development. Two responses that were received were well over $100,000. Commissioner Carr requested that the following editing changes be made to the RFP: 1. Section 1.3: Change the first sentence of the section to read "The TSLAC currently has diverse programs whose function is to assist the development of Texas public libraries." 2. Section 1.4, C-1: The last sentence should read: "The Proposer must specify the minimum number of such group meetings they will conduct; this should be a sufficient number of meetings to ensure the inclusion of library service providers and stakeholders across the state." Commissioner Cox requested that the following editing changes be made to the RFP: Section 1.4, D: The sentence should read "The Proposer must hold at least one in-person meeting with the project Steering committee at the beginning of the project, and include additional regular communication by telephone, conference call or e-mail."

Ms. Rudd also asked the commissioners to see if the proposed future commission meeting dates would work with their schedules. Chairman Pickett asked the commissioners to let Regina Miles know which meeting dates would not work for them.

The Communications Department received a $1,000 donation deposited on August 30, 2002, from the Association of Management Resources, Inc. with the help of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The donation was made to support the agency's participation in the National Book Festival to be held in October.

Commissioner Sanders recommended the commission's approval of the Internal Audit of the Texas State Library's Purchasing Function; no second was needed. Motion passed. Commissioner Sanders recommended the commission's approval of the Internal Audit Plan for FY 2002; no second was needed. Motion passed.

8. CONSIDER REQUEST FROM THE BOB BULLOCK TEXAS STATE HISTORY MUSEUM TO BORROW ARCHIVAL MATERIALS.

Chris LaPlante recommended the commission's approval of the request to borrow the Travis letter and the 1875 Constitution. Commissioner Carr moved to approve the loan; Commissioner Sanders seconded. Motion passed.

9. CONSIDER AUTHORIZATION TO ADOPT NEW RULE 13 TAC 2.57 REGARDING THE HANDLING OF PETITIONS FILED UNDER GOVERNMENT CODE 2001.021.

Ed Seidenberg addressed the commission and reported that there have been no comments to the first posting to the Texas Register. He asked the commission to approve adoption. Commissioner Carr suggested the following revision to the last sentence of the last section (c): "The director and librarian may refuse to forward to the commission for consideration any subsequent petition for the adoption of the same or a similar rule submitted within twelve months after the date of the commission's rejection of initial petition." Chairman Pickett raised a question about the 60-day timeframe of (c)(2); Mr. Seidenberg responded that the timeframe is based on state legislation.

Commissioner Carr moved to amend the proposed rule with the addition of new language; Commissioner Brisack seconded. Motion passed.

Chairman Pickett called for a short break at 2:10 p.m. The commission reconvened at 2:15 p.m.

Ava Smith address the commission and requested the commission's approval to publish the rule review. Commissioner Brisack moved to approve the publication of the rule review; Commissioner Carr seconded. Motion passed.

11. CONSIDER APPOINTMENTS TO THE LIBRARY SYSTEMS ACT ADVISORY BOARD.

Deborah Littrell addressed the commission and requested approval of the appointment of Barbara Gubbin and Alvin C. Cage to the Board. Mrs. Littrell stated that the mayor of Houston has approved the appointment of Gubbin. Commissioner Brisack moved to approve the appointments; Commissioner Sanders seconded. Motion passed.

Beverley Shirley addressed the commission. Ellen Safley addressed the commission and reviewed the guidelines and grant award process. Over the last year, the amount of grants has risen more than 87%. Scoring of grants is based on the following five (5) areas: The significance of the collection; the availability of the material to the citizens of Texas; the project design; cost sharing; evaluation of the project and how the grant will be publicized. Regarding the "significance" portion, Ms. Safley said it isn't restricted to material just on Texas or Texana.

Commissioner Carr asked if there was evidence of the legislature's understanding of the use of appropriated funds for this materials. Mrs. Shirley responded to his question.

The agenda item was tabled until the commission could review statute information. Commissioner Carr commended the efforts of Ms. Safley and the Working Committee. Commissioner Brisack suggested the meaning of the word "availability" in the selection criteria be clarified. The item was revisited after a copy of the statute was provided to the commission.

14. REVIEW AND APPROVE TEXTREASURES GRANTS FOR STATE FISCAL YEAR 2003.

Beverley Shirley reviewed the grant up for the commission's approval. Commissioner Carr said the information provided on the dental articulators didn't clearly show a connection to the significance to Texas.

Chairman Pickett thanked Ellen Safley for the information. Ms. Rudd suggested that the language of the criteria could be altered to make the "significance to Texas" criterion a separate scoring point. Commissioner Carr asked when the process for next year's grants would occur. Mrs. Shirley responded that the grant notification goes out in the fall. All grants were due at the end of March, and the committee met in June. Mr. Seidenberg suggested putting an announcement about the change in the fall correspondence.

15. DISCUSSION OF THE TEXSHARE COMMUNICATIONS PLAN.

Beverley Shirley addressed the commission and gave background information on the Plan. Erica McKewen addressed the commission and provided background information on the process of implementing the Plan. They are currently pulling together a task force to implement the plan.

Commissioner Carr noted that at least one school library administrator was upset that TexShare databases could not be accessed from school libraries. Chairman Pickett asked if the Link to Learn project addresses that concern. Ms. Rudd responded to both inquiries. Commissioner Carr expressed appreciation for the inclusion of Appendix B in the Plan.

With no further business, Chairman Pickett adjourned the meeting at 3:05 p.m.